The Digitalization of Studio Practices and Its Impact on the Development of Design Literacy of First-Year Architecture Students

Digital skills are emphasized in the ongoing process of digital transformation in higher education. In this article, digital literacy is discussed within the broader perspective of design literacy and the acceleration of the digitalization process of first-year design education at the time of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020 is highlighted. The article interrogates the role of digital skills in the development of design literacy of first-year architecture students through a multiple case analysis of ARCH 101 design studio practices executed in the Bachelor of Architecture programmes at the Özyeğin University, Department of Architecture and the Middle East Technical University, Department of Architecture. The digitalization processes of ARCH 101 studios increased rapidly when the COVID-19 pandemic started and resulted in the integration of digital tools into basic design education in ways that transformed (1) the communication modalities and the representation and research strategies used by students, and (2) the understanding and methodologies of the design process when used as generative design tools.